Raiders inflict defeat on Newcastle

Raiders inflict defeat on Newcastle

Plymouth Raiders produced a landmark victory on Sunday afternoon as they defeated high-flying Newcastle Eagles 89-73 at Pavilions.

The Raiders came into this game on the back of a win against Leeds Force last weekend, butwould’ve known they were in for a difficult game against a Newcastle team that were yet tolose in the league this season.

Newcastle themselves travelled to Plymouth on Sunday after an 86-57 win against BristolFlyers on Saturday night.

And it was the Eagles that made the early headway in this game.

The visitors point guard Saah Nimley put together some early points for his team as theylooked to build a head of steam, with Newcastle going into an early five-point lead.

But, Raiders battled back with Kinu Rochford, who was so impressive against Leeds Forceand made his presence known on the court once again by producing a steady flow of two-point shots for his side.

The hosts continued to take the game to Newcastle, and with defensive solidity added byDylan Costelloe, partnered with effective offensive work by players around him, Plymouthwere able to put themselves into a two-point lead at half time.

Coach Gavin Love would’ve known the importance of his side remaining concentrated anddisciplined against a side as strong as Newcastle, and he will have been overjoyed when histeam picked up where they left off in the first half, producing a three-point shot with theirfirst possession of the third quarter.

The game plan worked perfectly as far as Plymouth would’ve been concerned, the hostscontinued to frustrate their opposition and wouldn’t let them get into any sort of rhythm.Newcastle’s biggest scoring run of the game was just six, showing that the Raiders wereintent on sticking to their game plan.

Plymouth continued to shoot well and built up a nine-point lead by the end of the thirdquarter.

Newcastle never really looked like getting back into the game, and as Plymouth wentfurther and further into the lead, the away fans would’ve lost all hope they were going topick up their tenth win of the season.

The hosts went into a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter, and remained disciplined up untilthe final whistle, eventually running out 89-73 winners for Newcastle’s first league loss thisseason.

Coach Gavin Love gave his thoughts after the game.

“I thought we played very well,” he said.

“We managed to put together a more consistent defensive effort.

“We need to put together longer periods of playing well and I think we did that tonight.”

The Raiders coach also had a special mention for debutant Jawad Adekoya.

“Jawad was superb,” he said.

“He was the guy we’ve been needing who can get to the basket a little bit more and playgood defence, and he did an amazing job at the defensive end this evening.”

The fixtures come thick and fast for Plymouth Raiders now, as they head to WorcesterWolves on Friday night, before they return to Pavilions again next Sunday to do battleagainst the Surrey Scorchers.